Feeding snakes human type food not of the usual diet

[ontariosnakelover]

Hehy guys I know this is a weird topic but want to hear what you have to say. Have you ever heard of snakes that successfully ate food other than their normal diet? For example I had a friend who was eating a plate of hot dog weiner on a plate with his ball python on his shoulders which slithered down and ended up actually eating a weiner. He showed me a picture and if I can get it I will happily share. Is this normal to see in certain odd moments of randomNess or is there certain human foods that snakes are willing to eat.

[KMG]

It probably struck it because of the heat signature.

I don't see any good from it and would certainly never attempt to feed anything other than proper food items to my snakes.

[WastelandExotics]

Oh boy.

That's an interesting....image.... you've painted into our minds [maybe mine just goes involuntarily, straight to the gutter, but I digress].

Back to the subject: it's not a good idea for two simple reasons:
1. Often times, our food is 'simplified' and may not have everything BPs need to flourish (bones, fur, organs, etc).
2. You may be giving too much of a single nutrient over another as who the hell knows what's in stuff like hot dogs, amirite?

Seriously though...tell your friend to shtap eating around their BP - I mean, I kind of thought that went without saying but I learn something new every day. I honestly would be surprised if the snake didn't regurge.

Also, BPs are picky and finicky eaters and if it gets a taste for hot dogs and only hot dogs, you're going to be SOL and have a short lived snake me thinks. *end cynical sarcastic attempt at a joke*

[tegu]

I have definitely seen people stupid enough to buy sausages straight out of the package and give it to snakes. Sadly, some will eat it. I know of a company called reptililinks which makes "snake sausages" but I see no reason to use that. I also know some people have tried to feed snakes strips of chicken with calcium dust on it, which is just a terrifically bad idea. The best food for captive snakes is rodents.

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[tttaylorrr]

i want to see the picture...

[MD_Pythons]

I've seen people give their snakes chicken legs as treats, and there are those Reptilinks things but I've never used those. I wouldn't try that, I would hate to have a snake that refused to eat anything but Reptilinks or something.

[CALM Pythons]

I know more than one Retic & Burm that eat cut up raw whole chicken, like a Dog no striking. Ive never heard anything as silly as a Hot Dog. That must be terrible for them if its true. Nothing but sodium!
My snakes will eat fresh kill without striking, they come out and drag it into their hide and eat it.

[Sonny1318]

Chicago style hot dog, time to feed the keeper.

[Jhill001]

They sell blended up mice in sausage links marketed to snakes. That's clearly not "normal" snake food even if it has a picture of one on the packaging.

Snakes will eat all manner of meat. I wouldn't be surprised if my rat snakes would eat fish fillets even if it's pretty far from their normal diet.

That said, the amount of salt in something like a hot dog/90% of man made foods would likely dehydrate a snake pretty badly.

I ate a bunch of super spicy wings last night, is that "normal" healthy food for a human? No probably not, but I can eat it and digest it and get some sort of nourishment from it.

I don't have a caretaker to make sure that I eat 100% good foods, however my snakes do and I have 0 problem holding them to health standards I don't hold myself to.

Can a snake eat certain things that humans eat? Sure absolutely. Is it good for them? No almost certainly not. But people are going to do what people do however that isn't going to keep me from calling them idiots if they do something like this.

[Craiga 01453]

i want to see the picture...

Yup me too...

Some human foods I can see a snake eating without being harmful. So it doesn't surprise me to know people try other food items. I personally don't understand why not just stick to what's proven to be proper, healthy prey...but different strokes for different folks.
However, I can't think of one, single reason to feed a snake a processed food item like a hot dog. I'm sure that nitrate-circle isn't good for a snake's digestive system.